Neuchâtel native Clémence Mermet published her first album under the name Clé on November 22. The actress tries her hand at tinkering and intimate singing throughout “Songs of 4 a.m.”. Seven titles imagined in the heart of the night like so many whispered secrets that she will reveal on stage in Bienne on November 30.
The project of these “4 a.m. songs” took shape in 2020 in full confinement, between 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Clémence Mermet, prone to insomnia, finally found in this silent and suspended time a space in which she could imagine songs without fear between her bedroom, her garden or her garage.
If this professional actress says she has been writing songs since childhood, she admits to having been paralyzed for a long time by the sacred side of music, due to her musician parents.
Covid finally allowed him to dare to embark on the adventure, to record his emotions, even if it still took four years for Clé to have the courage to publish them. Along with valuable advice gleaned from artists like Elie Zoé, Pony del Sol and Baby Volcano who share the same label as her, Label Rapace, founded by visual artist Augustin Rebetez.
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“Describe with sounds what is lost in words”
The common point of these songs, however, remains “this desire to describe with sounds what is lost with words”. Clé clarifies his thoughts in the Vertigo show on November 25: “All the songs talk about a specific moment. It’s not a story or a stage, but it’s really a strong physical sensation that I need to experience. translate and that I can’t explain at that moment I could also describe biologically what’s happening in my body, but that wouldn’t capture the emotion. So I feel like I need to. music and harmonies to translate these feelings.”
These “4am Songs” also include beautiful work on musical climates. “The atmospheres are very linked to what I had at hand. For the first songs, I just had a computer, headphones and my voice. Then little by little, as I started to compose, I told myself that I could add instruments that I had on hand in a corner, like a ukulele or small drums, to see what I could tinker with (…) The universes were therefore created based on what I knew how to tinker with and elements that I could gather. There were. in reality and surprisingly a very random side in the construction of the pieces”.
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Overwhelming sensations
The production of “Chansons de 4 a.m.” is however not completely spontaneous and DIY since Clé still made some additions, for example by having double bass lines recorded by a professional musician as well as additional voices.
Among the sensations by which Clé says she feels crushed, she evokes “the enormous and violent argument I had with a friend where I had the impression of being run over” at the origin of the haunting “And start again” which is transformed “into a sort of Sisyphus myth in song”. In the case of the other strong track from this first album, “Vide”, Clé sees its genesis in “a very complicated situation to describe”, where the singer found no writing solution to deal with the subject and felt therefore completely empty.
Olivier Horner
Key, “Songs from 4 a.m.” (Label Rapace). Released November 22, 2024.
In concert at the Literary Café, Bienne, November 30, 2024; Théâtre du Pommier, Neuchâtel, March 21, 2025.
